


Five Dates, Five Vows

by afteriwake



Category: House M.D., Leverage, Once Upon a Time (TV), Sherlock (TV), Torchwood
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 12:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/710922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five vows that Sarah Sawyer has made after the five most interesting (for one reason or another) dates of her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Dates, Five Vows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eanor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eanor/gifts).



> Answering half of a sherlockmas Afterglow Fest prompt: "Tell me about the five craziest dates Sarah’s been on - crossovers very welcome and whether John is the most crazy or most normal one is for you to decide! :-P. (Crossovers I'd love include, but are not limited to: Doctor Who, Cabin Pressure, House MD, Discworld, The IT Crowd, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)." It's been a while since I've written a fic like this, but I had a lot of fun with it.

**James Wilson**

She’d never expected going to the medical conference would lead to a date. She had been at the conference in New York and there was a maddening know-it-all named Gregory House there, sitting in on the forum about infectious disease. He was making such a fuss over everything and how wrong and boring it was that it was grating on her nerves. Finally she just snapped at him, and he quieted down.

After the forum his friend came up to her and apologized. James Wilson was the polar opposite of House. He was nice, he was polite and he was interesting. They ended up missing the next two lectures to talk about all sorts of things, and she had to admit it was probably more pleasant than sitting through another lecture that House was involved in. When he asked her out to dinner, she didn’t hesitate to say yes.

She hadn’t expected House to join them, however, and for him to make a complete hash of things. Any chance she might have had for a budding romance or even a one night stand were dashed when House complained like a sullen boy that she was monopolizing all of Wilson’s time. And the worst part was that Wilson _let_ him. It was as though his friend was vastly more important than her. After desert she bid them both a good night, thankful that it had been the last day of the conference. And she made a vow right then and there never to date another doctor again.

**Jack Harkness**

She had no clue how she’d ended up in Cardiff. Well, she’d known, because her friend called her there, asking for help. And one thing led to another and she ended up being involved in the strangest crime she’d ever been involved in. Before that evening she’d have vowed up and down that there were no such things as aliens. After that night? After that night, she wasn’t so sure.

She had to be rescued by Jack Harkness. He was a dashing American, she had to admit that, and after he saw her slightly frazzled state he offered to go get her a drink. One drink turned to two, then three, and then four. She was drinking to get past the shock at first, then she was drinking because she was in the company of a very handsome man and she wanted to feel alive again.

She’d kissed him, at the bar, and he’d kissed her back. But only for a moment. Then he pulled away and said he couldn’t, said there was someone else, and as attractive and lovely as she was it just wasn’t right. Ianto would get jealous. Ianto! Jack was dating another man and yet he’d snogged her for a moment. She had never felt so humiliated before in her life.

With that, he packed her off in a cab to her friend’s home, and then she stewed for the entire night on why she had such terrible taste in men. If it wasn’t one thing it was another, and she made a vow that night that she was always going to find out if potential dates were actually straight before she kissed them.

**August Booth**

She had thought maybe he would be safe. He’d been sitting at a café, typing on an ancient typewriter. In the day and age of ultra-thin laptops, she had been intrigued. She went up to him and initiated the conversation, wanting to know why he was using such an archaic piece of equipment. He’d given her a grin, invited her to sit down, and he explained.

She’d had plans that day but scrapped them all to keep talking to him. They were there for many hours, and she listened to him regale her about all the places he had been, all the things he had seen. She had listened with rapt attention and found herself not wanting the day to end.

Then she asked to see what he was writing. He got quiet then, said he couldn’t share. She understood; she had known writers could be temperamental about their work. He then said he needed to go, that it had been nice talking to her but he needed to get back to work. It was quite an abrupt change in attitude: before he had been open and warm, now he was cold and distant. As she left the café in a slightly bewildered state, she vowed never again to even think about getting involved with a writer.

**John Watson**

When she first met him, she’d been intrigued. Highly impressed, obviously, because she’d hired him on the spot, but intrigued just as much. And as they began to work together they would talk, and she’d learn bits and pieces of his past. She broke her own vow never to date a doctor again when he asked her out.

Of course, she hadn’t known about Sherlock Holmes. Oh, if she had known about Sherlock she’d have gone running because Sherlock was House 2.0. But at least on that date with Dr. Wilson she hadn’t almost died. John and Sherlock nearly got her killed! She was so sure she was going to die that night, and there was so much more she wanted to do in life. When she was saved, she nearly wept in relief, and if she hadn’t been so angry at John and Sherlock for putting her in that position in the first place she would have kissed them both.

John was actually quite surprised she didn’t fire him the next day, but she did say no more dates. The only relationship they would have would be strictly professional. He wasn’t a weak man and he hadn’t led her on, but he made choices in his own life that could easily put her in danger. He could make enemies with those choices. And that day, she vowed never to date someone involved in law enforcement in any way.

**Eliot Spencer**

She’d been about to give up on dating before she met Eliot. Every single date she’d been on in the last few years, and even a few things that had the potential to become dates and hadn’t, had all ended with her making some sort of vow. Her life was so full of these vows that she was pretty sure she’d excluded every man on the face of the earth at this point. She needed a change, needed a break. She handed over the practice to John, who needed something to take his mind off his friend’s suicide, and she left. She moved to Portland, Oregon, to work at a small clinic there. A new-found friend suggested she go to a certain microbrewery in town with the best beer and amazing food. She was reluctant at first, but as soon as she had her first bite she knew she had a new favorite place to eat.

She went there nearly every night for dinner. Always alone; she’d decided to take a permanent hiatus from dating. And over time, she got to know the people who ran the place. Eliot was the one who captivated her attention, though. He started to make it a point to come out when she was there, ask if she liked the food, talk to her for a few moments. Then the few moments became longer, and soon he was joining her for her evening meal.

He could make her laugh so easily. He was a bit mum about his past, but that was all right. What he did share just made her like him more. And when he asked her to come over to his place for dinner one night, she broke her hiatus and said yes. It had been six months since she’d starting talking to him. If this was to be the start of something, it had gone well enough so far.

They talked long into the night, and towards the end he appeared to be wrestling with something. She asked what was wrong, and he told her he was keeping a secret, a rather large one. She wasn’t going to press, but then he told her more about his past, about what he had done, about what he was doing now. She stared at him, slack-jawed. He was a grifter? She _would_ have to fall for someone like that.

But then he went into more detail, and she was glad she hadn’t bolted. Him and his friends, they were righting wrongs. They were helping people who were small and insignificant in the larger scheme of things, helping them get leverage. She had to admire that, and she was glad he trusted her with the truth. When he asked her if it might be all right if they went out on a second date, she said yes without thinking too hard on it. And the vow she made that night was so different than the rest: she vowed she would do her best to be happy with Eliot, and that was a vow she felt wholeheartedly that she could live with for the rest of her life.


End file.
